BER G - Improving the rating

boris1234

Hi,

I'm looking at purchasing an old 1930's Dublin ex-corporation house in D12 at the moment.

House has a BER rating of G. Just wondering what steps one could take to improve this and what the maximum gain in BER rating would be?

Walls in most of these are solid concrete so no cavity to insulate. House has single glaze windows, GFCH.

Just looking for a rough idea of what it would cost. Obviously windows would be one thing to upgrade and insulation where possible.

Thanks

Dudda

No reason you can't go all the way to an A but it will depend on what money you have. The start would be external insulation and new tripple glazed windows which are moved out to the line of the external insulation to avoid cold bridges around the new windows. Then insulation in the attic.

If you plan to take on what's called a deep retrofit which is a major upgrade then you'll most likely have to dig out the floor
to allow you put in new insulation and possibly underfloor heating if you want it. There's loads you can do and you can end up with a super insulated passive house with mechanical heat recovery ventilation, ASHP (Air Source Heat Pump), solar panels, etc.

So much you can do I think it's best you look through some examples of what others did rather than me listing everything. Have a look through some of these upgrade projects: https://passivehouseplus.ie/magazine/upgrade

Not sure what type of house you have but for example eg this is a 1960's semi detached https://passivehouseplus.ie/magazine/upgrade/ireland-s-first-fully-passive-retrofit

or this is an older terrace https://passivehouseplus.ie/magazine/upgrade/private-enerphit-homes-come-to-london-rental-market

boris1234

Thanks.

We'd definitely be installing new windows/doors.

Insulation in the attic also.

What sort of gain in BER if any would you expect just from these?

Dardania

I have an ex-corpo house similar to your (2 up / 2 down) and did some sustainability upgrades

we did:
- external insulation (circa 4k after the grant)
- heating controls (fitted myself so only materials cost which was ~€400 - expect a plumber to look for ~€800)
windows were fine, recent style double insulated, but needed a new front door (a composite one with good U value was ~€2k fitted) - you'd need to do windows which would be a couple of €k
- I got a builder to do attic insulation to SEAI standard but not following the grant - cost around ~€1k including flooring the attic above insulation
- Fitted a demand controlled extract ventilation system - including coring of air inlets & the system came to ~€4k. Not strictly an energy saving thing, but addressed damp & comfort very well. You could in lieu get some passive vents put into the windows while replacing them, and save this amount completely.
- fitted all CFL/LED lamps throughout which has a surprising effect on BER - circa €100
- boiler was alright (it's 82% efficient so no cost benefit advantage to replace with a decade long payback period) but if you needed to replace expect to pay ~€3k fitted I'd say

We've topped out at BER of C2. I could get it to B if I replaced the boiler and blocked up the chimney, but I'd never see payback on the boiler + a balloon up the chimney stops most heat loss...


There is such a thing as an advisory report that goes along with every BER produced. From a view look at daft:
http://www.daft.ie/dublin-city/houses-for-sale/dublin-12/?s[advanced]=1&searchSource=sale&offset=60
and hitting up the first ex corpo style house with a G rated BER: http://www.daft.ie/dublin/houses-for-sale/walkinstown/93-thomas-moore-road-walkinstown-dublin-1385782/
it has a BER no. of 109555391
if you put this number into: https://ndber.seai.ie/pass/ber/search.aspx 
it lets you see the Advisory report which says what should be done to improve the energy rating
https://ndber.seai.ie/pass/Download/PassDownloadBER.ashx?type=nas&ber=109555391 
maybe try it for the house you're interested in

in terms of your proposed upgrades, windows & attic are good steps. I'd also suggest looking at addressing airtightness by putting baloons up the chimneys & heating controls. It's hard to judge the BER impact of these upgades - should be a few letters better

boris1234

Dardania wrote: »

I have an ex-corpo house similar to your (2 up / 2 down) and did some sustainability upgrades

we did:
- external insulation (circa 4k after the grant)
- heating controls (fitted myself so only materials cost which was ~€400 - expect a plumber to look for ~€800)
windows were fine, recent style double insulated, but needed a new front door (a composite one with good U value was ~€2k fitted) - you'd need to do windows which would be a couple of €k
- I got a builder to do attic insulation to SEAI standard but not following the grant - cost around ~€1k including flooring the attic above insulation
- Fitted a demand controlled extract ventilation system - including coring of air inlets & the system came to ~€4k. Not strictly an energy saving thing, but addressed damp & comfort very well. You could in lieu get some passive vents put into the windows while replacing them, and save this amount completely.
- fitted all CFL/LED lamps throughout which has a surprising effect on BER - circa €100
- boiler was alright (it's 82% efficient so no cost benefit advantage to replace with a decade long payback period) but if you needed to replace expect to pay ~€3k fitted I'd say

We've topped out at BER of C2. I could get it to B if I replaced the boiler and blocked up the chimney, but I'd never see payback on the boiler + a balloon up the chimney stops most heat loss...


There is such a thing as an advisory report that goes along with every BER produced. From a view look at daft:
http://www.daft.ie/dublin-city/houses-for-sale/dublin-12/?s%5Badvanced%5D=1&searchSource=sale&offset=60
and hitting up the first ex corpo style house with a G rated BER: http://www.daft.ie/dublin/houses-for-sale/walkinstown/93-thomas-moore-road-walkinstown-dublin-1385782/
it has a BER no. of 109555391
if you put this number into: https://ndber.seai.ie/pass/ber/search.aspx 
it lets you see the Advisory report which says what should be done to improve the energy rating
https://ndber.seai.ie/pass/Download/PassDownloadBER.ashx?type=nas&ber=109555391 
maybe try it for the house you're interested in

in terms of your proposed upgrades, windows & attic are good steps. I'd also suggest looking at addressing airtightness by putting baloons up the chimneys & heating controls. It's hard to judge the BER impact of these upgades - should be a few letters better

Many thanks for this. Great info there.

CaraK

Well worth a read

Utilising a LCCA ( life cycle cost analysis)Doing nothing is your most expensive option long term

https://dit.ie/media/built/documents/architecture/springboard2015/nZEB15%20Session%202%2005%20Daniel%20Coyle.pdf

Dardania

CaraK wrote: »

Well worth a read

Utilising a LCCA ( life cycle cost analysis)Doing nothing is your most expensive option long term

https://dit.ie/media/built/documents/architecture/springboard2015/nZEB15%20Session%202%2005%20Daniel%20Coyle.pdf

Indeed a very good read. Bookmarked!
Takes an extreme view of "long-term" at either 30 or 50 years, which does justify the numbers... But in context of increasing energy costs, passive house retrofitting would make more & more sense